A Salmon Arm couple’s high-flying wedding was also rooted in Mount Ida as the ‘I dos’ coincided with the location of a significant discovery.
The narrative of helicopter pilot and prospector David Fredlund’s love story was set back when he was a four-year-old child who accompanied his dad to mining camps after his mother became sick.
“I grew up in a bush camp, a mining camp. I spent my teenage years underground,” he said. “When my mother’s health suffered to the point where dad retired to look after her, he wanted me to become a mining engineer and I wanted to fly. So, I flew.”
Fredlund focused his career on helicopters over planes because they’re “way more fun,” and flew for 45 years working for mining companies world over, accumulating “a ridiculous amount of experience” that kept him in demand.
When he “retired” to Salmon Arm, almost immediately people from his past were offering lucrative jobs he couldn’t say no to.
“So my retirement became something that didn’t exactly happen but, it gave me access to a helicopter anytime I wanted it,” he said.
Having that freedom to explore, Fredlund partnered with Dan Kobi to do some prospecting of their own, and around 20 years ago found amethysts on Mount Ida, including two he added to his collection.
That location became significant a few years later when, following the death of his first wife, he got remarried above Mount Ida in the back seat of a helicopter, piloted by his prospecting partner Kobi whom he has also taught to fly.
“When the time came to get married…I instructed Dan, I said, ‘Dan, when the pastor gets to the point where he’s asking ‘do you’, put it in a nosedive headed for the ground, and if she doesn’t say’yes’ don’t pull up,” he said laughing.
Though he was joking, it turned out to be significant as he realized years later the location of their I Dos was directly over the spot he’d found the amethyst, and decided to have one made into a pendant as an anniversary gift for his wife.
“It just seems to be highly appropriate… I just figured it out this year. I was sitting there looking at the rocks and all of sudden it went click…we said ‘I do’ directly overhead of where I got that rock,” he recalled.
“It was like the rock jumped up and said ‘you better do it dummy’.”
For such a special piece, Fredlund entrusted Arthur Hemeyer of Arthur’s Gem Set Studio to do the work because he’s found him to be “a very honest guy…and a very talented guy.”
“I’ve had him do a few custom pieces for me, and he does really, really nice work. So he’s going to cut it and see what the rock tells him it wants to become.”
Fredlund will present the result to his wife on their anniversary April 16.
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